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Your healthy ferret has shiny white teeth and you want to keep them that way.

But how?

Dry crunchy ferret food, as opposed to soft foods and treats, helps in keeping plaque from building up on your ferret's teeth. As he crunches on the dry pellets, they scrape much of the soft plaque and food residue from his tooth enamel. However, it is still important to check your ferret's teeth on a regular basis and remove any excess plaque. If plaque is allowed to remain on the teeth, it hardens into tartar and is much more difficult to remove, requiring a visit to the vet for anesthesia and a de-scaling.

Your ferret will need his teeth brushed about twice a month. Before you brush his teeth for the first time, make sure he is comfortable with you touching and manipulating his mouth and jaws. To get a ferret used to this, spend a few minutes a day petting and massaging him around his face and mouth, graduating to pulling his lips back to expose his teeth and even putting your fingers into his mouth if he will let you.

Once your ferret is comfortable with your ministrations, you can begin the routine of brushing his teeth. You will need a suitable pet toothbrush and some pet toothpaste. Do not use human toothpaste or baking soda on a ferret. These are just too harsh on his tooth enamel. There are two different styles of pet toothbrush, a bristle type on a handle, much like a human toothbrush or a thimble type, which fits over your index finger. Thimble types come in either latex with tiny nubs for massaging the gums and teeth or with bristles. If your ferret is prone to nipping at you, you might want to opt for the handle type of toothbrush, instead of sticking your fingers in his mouth.

If your ferret is easygoing, then you can snuggle him onto your lap and use one hand to open his mouth and the other to brush his teeth. If your ferret is more difficult to handle, then you may have to get another person to scruff him while you brush his teeth. Scruffing helps keep an unruly ferret still and under control.

Put some toothpaste onto the toothbrush and gently rub his teeth and gums, much the way you would a small child's. There is no need to rinse. After the toothbrushing, snuggle with your ferret to show him that you love him and as a reward for putting up with something he cannot understand.

At your yearly vet appointments, have your vet check for plaque buildup or tartar on your ferret's teeth. It is important to keep your ferret's teeth healthy, as inflamed gums from plaque and tartar buildup can become an entrance for bacterial infection to invade his body.

Here's to your ferret's shiny white smile!

Learn more about this author, Liza Cameron Wasser.
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